The Buzz: Fox Valley Grappling Club to move

Jun. 24, 2013

Owner Alex Rathbone and Kelly Seiltz of Little Chute work on an arm bar drill during a Brazilian jiujitsu advanced class at the Fox Valley Grappling Club on Wednesday in Appleton. / Dan Powers/Post-Crescent Media

Written by

Maureen Wallenfang

Post-Crescent Media

The Fox Valley Grappling Club signed a lease for a highly visible location on the western edge of downtown Appleton. The martial arts club will be moving Aug. 1 to 801 W. College Ave., at the corner of Locust Street, which is the large vacant store that once housed The Brides and before that a furniture store. It’s in the same block as Frank’s Pizza Palace.

FVGC is known for primarily for Brazilian jiujitsu and Muay Thai kickboxing. It also offers mixed martial arts and self-defense. It began in borrowed spaces in 2000 and found a home in Grand Chute’s industrial flats seven years later. Founder Bill Krieg decided to become a full-time police officer in 2010, and sold the business to Alexandra Rathbone and James Peterson, two of the instructors. They moved the club to West Wisconsin Avenue, in the Dollar General building at the corner of Mason Street, and grew the membership from 30 to about 100.

When their building was sold to a church last August, the handwriting was on the wall.

“We knew it was an eventuality that they would use the space,” said Rathbone. “They’ve been awesome. They didn’t rush us. Our big thing was that we didn’t want to move in the wintertime.”

Home Church in Little Chute had purchased four of the five spaces in the Wisconsin Avenue building (with the exception of Dollar General’s spot) to house its congregation and community outreach in the future. The building’s existing tenants — FVGC and Echoes Gift & Thrift — were allowed continued their leases month-to-month until they found new locations. Echoes is still operating there.

Alex said the training space in the future College Avenue facility will be about the same size, but they gain square footage overall. “There are no pillars and there’s an office that we don’t have now. We’re excited about the traffic and to be participating in ADI (Appleton Downtown Inc) events.”

She said it was also an opportunity to add on to its hard-core martial arts, which draw mostly adult men. The fitness program, in contrast, draws mostly women.

“We have a Fight Fit training program that’s a noncontact fitness program. They do the same conditioning workouts that our fighters do. We have kids’ jiujitsu. We have family self-defense classes where parents and kids can train together,” she said.

It’s been a balancing act to keep the gritty side and attract a larger base.

“I believe we’ve created a less intimidating environment while keeping the quality of the martial arts here,” she said. “You can train as hard as you want to. In the advanced classes, guys wrestle hard and go to big level tournaments and win. We also have guys who come for fun. It’s a hobby and it keeps them in shape.”